From the moment the vicious murders of the Ayotzinapa teachers took place, PLP members in Mexico have participated in the massive protests. At these protests, we distributed flyers criticizing the Mexican government, and every reformist and electoral “alternative” group being promoted among workers. The attack, which took place in Iguala, Guerrero State last September 27, is a reflection of the violence that the ruling class is willing to use to enforce its plans against the working class as the bosses consolidate and assert their power. Six other people, three of them students, were killed in a police and paramilitary attack. To this day, 57 youth are still missing.
Events like this become more frequent as the global capitalist crisis deepens and imperialist rivals, the U.S., Russia and China, get ready to fight World War III. We place all blame for the murders on the capitalist system, and call for the working class to organize for communist revolution.
A group of Party members participated in a demonstration of striking IPN (National Polytechnic Institute) teachers and students, who are fighting the consequences of the Mexican bosses’ education reforms. They distributed 2,000 flyers.
Ruling Class Needs Behind Ayotzinapa Massacre
The Mexican ruling class needs to discipline the workers’ and other ruling class rivals in controlling tax revenue and educational policy.
Energy reform allows the U.S. to have more control over energy resources like oil, which is vital to the U.S. military in the event of war. The education and labor reforms are designed to a cheap labor force. They represent more oppression and exploitation for workers.
The changes that the bosses are trying to put in effect at IPN are part of the education reforms, which are designed to suppress political participation in the polytechnic community, to make higher education more technically oriented and to reduce teachers’ benefits. These reforms respond to the needs of the capitalist system to reduce enrollment in public education to benefit the business of private education. It also turns public schools into cheap labor factories, where trained and docile workers don’t require the training of a highly qualified technician.
The approval of these reforms was framed by terror against the working class by the army, the police and the crime cartels. Against this terror, all of the electoral political parties to encourage passivity of the working class, while helping build unity of the most powerful ruling class groups in Mexico and the U.S. Due to their deep unpopularity with the workers, the bosses resort to using terror to blunt the workers’ resistance, which has a rich history in Mexico, especially in 1968, when IPN students played a key role in the anti-imperialist student movement.
Under capitalism, education is a business, and one of the most important means to indoctrinate youth with nationalist, sexist, individualist, and racist ideology. The attacks confronted by IPN teachers and students will not end as long as there is a capitalist system. It is essential for capitalism to destroy the living conditions of the working class because that’s one of the ways they maximize their profits. Capitalists will try, by any means, to cut salaries, retirement pensions,   health and education services.
Growing Worker-Student Unity Key as PLP Strengthens
Under these conditions, the massive protests of the IPN students against changes to administrative regulations and curriculum is very significant. This struggle is part of the entire working class resistance to the reforms imposed by the ruling class.
The struggle of the Polytechnic students is developing unity with workers and students in other schools like UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico), UAM (Autonomous Metropolitan University), and UAEM (Autonomous University of Mexico State). This uity will be crucial to defeating attacks by school authorities and the ruling class.
We need to keep organizing the international revolutionary communist PLP, not an electoral party, to lead millions of workers in a communist revolution to abolish the oppressive capitalist system and build a new communist society. Workers’ power is the goal that in the last century inspired millions of workers around the world, including many of those who were part of the worldwide 1968 movement against imperialism. We honor their memory by renewing our commitment to the fight for a just and egalitarian society.
Our flyers were written collectively among our comrades and friends following lively debates about the causes of these attacks and their relation to global imperialist rivalry. Our friends participated in the discussion and helped distribute literature during the demonstrations.
One of our weaknesses was not quickly developing a plan for this struggle, which has already lasted months. We could have involved our friends in more than just passing our flyers. We plan to organize a group to participate more actively in the demonstrations with banners and flags, and organize conferences to put forward PLP’s position. From Ayotzinapa to Ferguson, the struggle of the working class for its liberation will put an end to capitalist oppression!

Our club recently discussed the election of Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) to lead the government of Greece. In the last few years, Greek workers have been hit with a 25 percent unemployment rate, and a one-third average reduction in household income. It therefore isn’t surprising that many supported a party that promises to lessen the pain — reduce austerity conditions by raising the minimum wage, shifting property taxes to the wealthy, and beginning a jobs program.
To be able to afford these social programs, the Greek government must convince the other European Union (EU) capitalist governments and their institutions (the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund) to allow Greece to reschedule payment of the $373 billion it owes. (A relatively better demand, for debt cancellation, was never on the table.) Many of our friends are optimistic that Syriza will win the battle over the debt, allowing it to improve conditions a bit for Greek workers.
The situation in Greece is a study in contradictions. The other European capitalist nations, led by Germany, have tremendous leverage over Greece, as they have the power to bankrupt the Greek banking system and cause an economic collapse. Yet a collapse of the Greek economy would deepen the recession in Europe and lead to political chaos, which they dread. The Syriza-led government, aware of this dilemma, is hoping to negotiate some flexibility in debt payments so that it can finance a government stimulus program.
Yet EU leaders are playing hardball, because they don’t want to set a precedent that other debtor countries will jump to take advantage of. They have taken steps to weaken Greece’s ability to borrow money, and ultimately they have the power to cut off loans altogether. The capitalist rating agency, Standard & Poor’s, has already downgraded Greek bonds to junk status (high-risk because there is little to back them up),  making it harder for the country to borrow.
Besides the contradiction within European capitalism, there is also the contradiction within Syriza. Although it is a coalition of left parties, including those that call themselves communist or socialist, the leadership has made it very clear that they are not trying to implement socialism, but are instead trying, in their words, to “stabilize capitalism.” The second most powerful leader of Syriza, after Prime Minister Tsipras, is the Minister of Finance, Yanis Varoufakis, who refers to himself as a Marxist. Varoufakis wrote an essay last year in which he set out the goals of Syriza:

… it is Left’s historical duty, at this particular juncture, to stabilize capitalism; to save European capitalism from itself and from the inane handlers of the Eurozone’s inevitable crisis.

He goes on to say that if Greek capitalism is not stabilized, it will likely lead to a rise in support for the Golden Dawn fascists, who in alliance with the police and the military will seize power as similar forces did in Europe in the 1930’s, and as they did in Greece in 1967. This fear of fascism and the violence it would unleash upon the working class, is used by Syriza to justify propping up a capitalist system that is abhorred by most of the radical coalition’s members!
However, even if Greek capitalism were to rebound and experience new growth, it would not put an end to destructive economic crises, which occur regularly and are intrinsic to capitalism. It would not put an end to the exploitation of workers, or the gross inequality we see in every capitalist country, or the vile racism endemic to capitalism, or the mistreatment and abuse of immigrant workers, or even the rise of fascism, which develops out of capitalist decay and can only be crushed by an armed working class. Moreover, if the EU capitalists do agree to restructure Greek debt, it will demand significant concessions in return, including a continuation of austerity policies and new rules making it easier to fire workers.
It is certainly true that revolution is not on the immediate horizon, either in Greece or the U.S. But as we actively take part in a thousand reform battles, we remember what Marx and Engels wrote in The Communist Manifesto:

The Communists fight for the attainment of the immediate aims, for the enforcement of the momentary interests of the working class; but in the movement of the present, they also represent and take care of the future of that movement. … The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions.
Taking “care of the future” means building a revolutionary communist party with the understanding that capitalism needs to be replaced, even if it takes decades.

We are hoping to have many conversations with our friends, including those from Greece, about the struggle against capitalist austerity and the need for revolution rather than just reform. We hope to make contact with Greeks who share our anti-capitalist vision. We’ll begin by urging all our friends and students to march on May Day to celebrate the fighting spirit of workers from Greece to Ferguson and call for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism.

Los Angeles, February 21 — While 13,000 West Coast dock workers returned to work today, another 1,350 oil refinery workers walked out at the Motiva Enterprises refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, the largest refinery in the U.S.
The dock workers, members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) have been waging a work-to-rule campaign against the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), in a nine-month contract fight. Once a communist-led union, the ILWU remains the most militant, left-wing union in the U.S. They struck the docks during the Occupy movement and again over the issue of racist police terror and the killing of Oscar Grant. They also refused to unload Israeli ships during the bombing of Gaza last summer.
The contract covers all West Coast dock workers, leaving the bosses little wiggle room when there is a dispute. A deal was finally reached after Obama ordered U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez to San Francisco to get the docks back up and running. The new contract covers docks at 29 seaports that handle about $1 trillion worth of cargo annually. The amount of cargo trailers waiting to be unloaded at just the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, if stacked one on top of the other, would reach the International Space Station. U.S. exports are also waiting to reach Asian markets, from agricultural goods to auto parts.
The details of the agreement have not been released, but the PMA’s “last, best and final” offer included continuing fully paid health coverage, an $11,000 increase in the maximum pension benefit, and a $1/hour wage increase over each of the next five years.
On Strike!
Meanwhile, the first nationwide oil refinery strike in more than 30 years is growing. The United Steelworkers union represents over 30,000 workers at refineries, terminals, petrochemical plants and pipelines across the country that produce more than 60 percent of U.S. oil. The Unfair Labor Practice strike over health and safety issues began on February 1, at nine strategic sites in Texas, California, Washington, and Kentucky and has spread to sites in Indiana and Ohio. The Motiva refinery is a joint venture between Shell and Saudi Refining Inc. that produces over 600,000 barrels per day. The walkout there raises the strike level from 10 percent to 20 percent of the workforce, with the rest of the workers poised to go out at any time.
The union called the strike after rejecting proposals from Royal Dutch Shell, the lead negotiator for Tesoro Corporation, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum, and LyondellBasell Industries. The U.S. oil industry made almost $90 billion in profit in 2014.
No Blood for Oil
Workers are demanding the hiring of hundreds of new workers for safe staffing levels, an end to the use of outside contractors on daily maintenance work, and increased time off between shifts to combat fatigue. This strike shows that the slogan “No Blood for Oil,” rings true whether in the U.S., Iraq or Syria.
These strikes reflect the potential power of the industrial working class. Nothing moves without workers. The slightest stirring strikes fear among the war makers and strikebreakers, especially coming on the heels of the Ferguson rebellion and nationwide upsurge. As May Day approaches, we fight for the day when that power is unleashed to build a communist world, based on equality and meeting the needs of the international working class.

The week of February 16 was a banner week for oil catastrophes — oil train derailments in West Virginia and Ontario, Canada, and a refinery explosion south of Los Angeles.
In Ontario, a train carrying Alberta tar sands crude derailed and exploded. In West Virginia, a train carrying light, volatile crude from the huge Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, derailed in the town of Mt. Carbon. At least 15 cars were set on fire, and at least one house burned down. It took five days to put the fires out, forcing an evacuation of many homes, and potentially contaminating a river used for drinking water.
Why are there so many derailments?  Authorities point to tanker cars inadequate for volatiles and vulnerable to puncture, limited maintenance of track, and excessive speed as risk factors. But the Ontario train was using newer, “improved” cars, was traveling below the speed limit, and on tracks that had been inspected two days before. We can only expect more derailments. Not only because tanker cars are unsafe, but the number of oil trains in North American has increased by 4,000 percent in the last five years. They are running all over the U.S., through heavily populated communities next to backyards and schools.
Bakken crude is light, volatile and highly flammable and explosive. Derailments are characterized by explosions sending huge balls of fire high into the sky, one car igniting another in a chain reaction. Since oil trains are often a mile or more long, and each car carries about 30,000 gallons, they have the potential to spread fiery explosions over large areas.
Spills And Leaks Common
Tar sands derailments can also result in explosion, but spills, leaks and derailments are hazardous in additional ways. The crude must be transported heated and under high pressure, because it is so thick and viscous. It also has acidic components. These three factors make it corrosive, leading to frequent leaks and spills. High pressure leaks can spew out geysers, releasing thousands of gallons in minutes.
TransCanada, owner of the Keystone XL pipeline, had a dozen spills in its first pipeline in less than a year of operation (foe.org). Tar sands spills into water create monumental cleanup tasks, as the heavy crude sinks to the bottom in both fresh and salt water. A pipeline rupture in Michigan in 2010 spilled over a million gallons into the the Kalamazoo River, leading to the most expensive oil pipeline cleanup in U.S. history. As of 2013, more than $1 billion had been spent, but 40 miles of the river were still contaminated.
Tar sands are too thick to transport through pipelines or on and off tanker cars without dilution and heating. The diluent is a mixture of light weight, volatile hydrocarbons, including benzene, which is associated with leukemia. When a spill or leak occurs, these volatiles are released into the air. Leaks occur at all phases of transport, transfer onto and off of trains, and through refining. When the oil is heated, its high level of sulfur causes emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, both associated with smog. Sulfur dioxide can also cause or aggravate heart and lung problems.
Tar sands are hazardous at all phases from mining to refining. Many studies have shown elevated levels of cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory problems near mines and refineries. And communities near refineries are usually of poor people of color. Communities living near a spill are also at risk. After the Kalamazoo spill, the Michigan Department of Public Health determined that 320 people suffered adverse health effects, including cardiovascular, dermal, gastrointestinal, neurological, ocular, renal, and respiratory impacts.
Pipeline spills are increasingly common. In January, there were at least four major pipeline incidents nationwide, including a gas pipeline explosion in West Virginia; a pipeline spill that saw up to 50,000 gallons of crude oil spilled into the Yellowstone River, and a gas pipeline explosion in Mississippi.
And these mishaps are the ones we hear about. North Dakota seems to have spills on an ongoing basis.  An Associated Press investigation in 2013 revealed nearly 300 oil pipeline spills in ND that occurred over a two-year period and were not disclosed to the public.
The path forward
The week of the triple oil disasters was an example of the extreme weather associated with climate change, with temperatures near zero in the eastern third of the country. The corporate media rarely connects climate change and fossil fuel disasters, though they are closely related. Burning fossil fuels, and a society making almost no efforts toward a sustainable energy path, are the main causes of climate change. How many disasters and extremes of climate will it take to connect the dots, much less change our path?  And even if the media and misleaders do connect them, politicians beholden to the fuel giants, like the Koch brothers, are not going to make the change. Oil billionaires fund “research” and candidates who spread the absurdities that climate change is not caused by human activity, or that fossil fuel emissions are not harmful.
The enormous stores of oil and gas from the Bakken fields should be used in moderation, as the U.S. marches on a path to sustainable energy. And there is only one good place for tar sands oil:  in the ground. Climate scientists have said that if that oil is burned, it is game over for climate change. This eventuality makes the recent rash of catastrophes only Act I in a much larger, global disaster.
The fact is, capitalists must maximize profits in the short run — that’s competition. Such a system can never step back and make the huge investments needed to safely change over to other forms of energy. There will be no end to climate change or the dangers of oil production and transport until we get rid of this system altogether. We must replace it with communism, a system in the interest and safety of the working class.